I was born in 1949 to Russell & Veronica Connor in Queens, New York City. We lived in Brooklyn, New York until I was seven years old. We then moved to Hempstead, Long Island. I went to Hempstead High School and worked part-time after school for spending money as my parents had 5 boys and not much money.
I went to college at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York to study Electrical Engineering. While in college, I joined the Delta Sigma Chi fraternity and then met my future bride Marge. I graduated in the spring of 1972. In 1970, the country held its first draft lottery and my number called was 10, so it was very difficult to find a job.
I went to work as a Management Trainee for Cramer Electronics in Newton, Mass and worked my way up to National Distribution Manager. In 1974, we had a son, Bret.
In 1979, I accepted a Distribution Manager position with Frito-Lay and we moved to Topeka, Kansas. After a major expansion of the Topeka plant in 1986, I decided to start my own business with a whirlpool bath distributorship, expanding into countertops, then custom cabinets, and then building swimming pools. In 1988, we built a new home in Lake Sherwood area and installed an inground pool shortly after. The first project I had when I retired was to install hardwood floors throughout the 1st floor (all by myself).
In 1996, I accepted a Business Consultant position with IPA in Chicago and traveled all over the country helping small businesses address their profitability issues. While traveling, I self-taught myself database development and was then asked by IPA management to develop new corporate database systems. Upon successful completion, I was named Corporate Director of IT and was responsible for all database development, payroll generation, computer systems and help desk, telephone systems, corporate programming, and call center programming. I retired in December 2012.
I now dabble in website and database programming, play golf, bowl in senior leagues, and look forward to seeing my son, Bret (the COO of Athena Health in Boston), my daughter-in-law, Anu (a Director with Bristol-Squibbs Meyer), and our lovely granddaughter, Serena.